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"I know it's hard doll, we all miss him loads so I can't even begin to imagine how you're feeling. Clint is a fighter though and he'll pull through soon enough, that I'm sure of. But you can't shut yourself away from everyone, it's not good for you and we all want to be there for you but we can't if you won't let us. Pepper and I are going out tonight but I heard the others talking about ordering Chinese so why don't you join them for dinner?" He suggested.

"You and Pepper are finally going on a date?" I asked with a grin.

"Actually, this is our fourth date, I just haven't seen you to be able to tell you." He said.

"Who knew the famous Tony Stark would finally settle down." I teased.

"Nothing is definite right now, but it's her birthday on the 6th of May, just over a month away, and if it is all still going well then I plan on asking her out." Tony said.

"You two are perfect for each other, you both deserve to be so happy." I said with a small smile.
"And so do you, now come and join us for lunch." He said.

I sighed but let him pull me up from the bed, I knew all eyes would be on me when I walked into the kitchen and I was not looking forward to it. I was right; when Tony and I walked into the kitchen everyone stared at me as if they were waiting for me to say something.

"What did the doctor say?" Bruce asked after a few minutes of silence.

"The chemotherapy shrunk the tumours a little but I still need the operation, it's at 11am on the 3rd of April. The tumours have shrunk enough for them to be able to remove them by themselves, which means I can still breastfeed the baby." I said quietly as I looked down at my hands.

"Well that's good news." Pepper said cheerfully.

I gave her a small smile and she pulled me into a hug, I let out a little gasp as it caught me by surprise but I quickly hugged her back.

"Can we eat now? I'm starving." Tony complained.

We all sat around the table eating the pasta that Pepper had made us for lunch, the others sat laughing and talking but I stayed silent, not really knowing what to say.

"We need to go baby shopping soon! It isn't long until you find out the gender is it?" Pepper asked, turning to me.

The others fell silent and all eyes were on me again, making me shift uncomfortably in my seat.

"My next scan is on the 30th, I found out the gender then." I said.

"I have a clear schedule that day, I can come with you if you'd like and then we can go shopping after?" Pepper suggested.

I nodded and took another bite of my sandwich so I didn't have to talk, I was relieved when Tony started talking about some new tech that he was planning to work on with Bruce. Later that day, I was heading to the training room when I heard weird noises coming from Pepper's room.

"Pepper, are you alright?" I asked after knocking on her door.

A few seconds later her door opened and she had a frustrated look on her face.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I'm supposed to be going out with Tony later and I can't find anything to wear." She said with a sigh.

"Oh come on, you must have something. Let me help." I said.

She stepped to the side and let me in, when I stepped inside I was shocked; her bedroom floor was covered in dresses strewn everywhere, you could barely see the carpet beneath them.

"But you have nothing to wear?" I asked.

"I just can't find the right dress." She sighed.

"Well let's pick all these up and we can start again." I said.

We hung all of her dresses back in the closet and I started sifting through them.

"When are you supposed to be leaving?" I asked.

"Tony said to be ready by 5:30pm." She said with a sigh.

"So we have an hour. Start doing your hair and I'll find you a dress." I instructed.

She nodded and sat at her vanity table, doing her hair in front of the mirror. I looked through all of her dresses and found a couple of nice ones but as I came towards the end I found the perfect dress. It was a backless halter neck red dress that was about knee length and would hug Pepper's figure perfectly.

"Found it." I announced proudly.

Pepper turned and her lips curved up into a smile as she took the dress from my hands.

"I must have missed this one before, I know exactly what to do with my make up and what shoes to wear. Thank you for helping me." She said happily.

"No worries, I'm heading to the training room. I'll see you later, have fun tonight." I said.

As I stepped out of her room, I realised that Clint and I had never really been out on a date, we'd only had dinner on the roof once. When he wakes up, that's the first thing I'm going to do, I don't care where we go as long as I spend the evening with him.

*Time skip 3 days*

I made my way towards the kitchen, I could already hear the others there chatting and laughing loudly.

"Morning." Bruce said as he handed me a cup of coffee.

"Morning." I said, taking the cup gratefully from him.

The last few days had been alright, I'd spent more time with the others and it did make me feel a bit happier but Clint was on my mind 24/7 and there was nothing I could do about it. Pepper's phone rung and she took the call out on the balcony, I watched as her face turned to a look of anger and she started yelling. I saw her sigh as she moved the phone away from her ear before coming back inside.

"Is everything alright?" I asked.

"There's an emergency in Washington, I need to fly down there now, they're sending a jet for me now. I can't come with you to the scan or shopping today, I'm so sorry." She said.

"It's not your fault, we can go shopping as soon as you're back." I said with a small smile.

"I'll take Abi, don't worry. Now go get ready to leave." Tony said to Pepper, the sadness evident in his voice.

She nodded and went down to her room, she quickly came back up to say goodbye to everyone but then she had to rush off. Tony looked distraught, he was so madly in love with her and I couldn't understand how she hadn't realised it yet. When she left, Tony turned to me.

"What time do we have to leave?" He asked.

"In about 20 minutes." I said.

He nodded and made himself a bowl of cereal, whilst he ate I got dressed and made my way back to the kitchen. Tony had his sunglasses and baseball cap on to hide his features so that he wasn't spotted.